You Are Never Alone
This past Wednesday evening, Team Suicide Prevention and Hope is Oxygen were at Bixby Bicycles to receive generous donations from the owner, Buster Brown. Not only did Buster finish the Ironman Tulsa Triathlon on the previous Sunday, but he had also taken time from running his business and his heavy ironman training schedule to set up a volunteer network for the Ironman Tulsa event. He has partnered with our team on several events over the last year raising money for the prevention of suicide. Our close relationship with Buster started when he hosted a memorial ride for cyclist, Stacy Ann Jacob, after she took her life in 2019.
Ashlyn Brothers, from Channel 6, was present to film the team riding and to gather information about the purpose of our 3,000 mile Race Across America which starts June 19th, 2021. We’d like to extend our sincere thanks to Ashlyn for taking the time to visit with us. Team Suicide Prevention co-captain Bill Taitano wore a very special jersey for the filming. This jersey has many signatures of people who have lost loved ones to suicide. In fact, his own signature on the jersey is in honor of his daughter who died in a murder-suicide in 2016. The jersey received two new signatures during the gathering at Bixby Bikes; one was Ashlyn’s uncle and and another from a dear mother who lost her son to suicide. Bill plans to wear this special jersey which we call “The Hope Jersey” across the finish line of the Race Across America in Annapolis and he will be on a bicycle once owned by Todd Reed who lost his life to suicide 3 years ago. Todd Reed worked for Bixby Bicycles and was a friend of Buster Brown along with many of our Air Assurance and Team Suicide Prevention teammates.
The highlight of the evening followed the presentation by Buster of his team’s fund raising efforts to Bill and Linda Pulver(founder of Hope is Oxygen). Linda has been an amazing partner to Team Suicide Prevention and her efforts to spread hope to those suffering from the suicide epidemic have a made a significant difference in our community. Team Suicide Prevention, Hope is Oxygen, Walk Out of Darkness, Buster and other guests shared emotional stories about their connection to and passion for preventing suicide. Everyone felt a strong bond by the end of the night.
Team Suicide Prevention is so much more than a group of 8 cyclists and 8 crew members. We are a community of people supporting one another’s personal grief and struggle to be mentally healthy as well as physically healthy. We are individuals with a desire to make ourselves available to others in need. Our team is so strong because we have been able to share our stories with one another and be vulnerable to the public. We truly live our message that YOU ARE NEVER ALONE. Please join us in our quest to spread hope and awareness that suicide is preventable by visiting our website at
We also want to extend our special thanks to what I like to refer to as our “Hero Army of Donors and Sponsors” who have donated funds and/or goods to support our mission to spread hope and help save lives. You can see this amazing list at our Supporter’s Page. Check back often as this page is updated on almost a daily basis. We are thankful.
The Team Suicide Prevention racers and crew will be departing for Oceanside, California in less than three weeks. The Race Across America starts at noon on June 19th. After the race starts, be sure and check https://www.raamrace.org for a link which provides live tracking of our progress as we race to Annapolis, Maryland.
Thank You
Craig J and Bill Taitano
